ELIZABETH'S TOP PICKS1. CHILL OUT AT A YOGA RETREAT
Meditation clears out mental clutter and who couldn't use that?
A yoga retreat really is the answer if you want a holistic holiday to just turn up the volume on your joy at being alive. The asanas (postures) work your body, the pranayama (breathing exercises) flood your system with oxygen and the combination quiets the mind.
There's no better way to achieve a sense of serenity than doing all that in some crazy-beautiful place.There are many places to do one but we give Halo Gaia bonus points for offering three- to four-day yoga retreats that combine twice-daily practice with wild dolphin encounters at Ponta Malongane in Mozambique, alongside coastal forest, beautiful birdlife, bushbabies and that amazing sea.
Accommodation ranges from rustic tents to luxury villas.
• The next retreat is from September 29-October 2.  R5,200 per person sharing.2. GET CREATIVE AT AN ARTIST'S RETREATIt turned out to be a thrilling blend of holiday and hobby, in which participants visit lovely island sights, then, suitably inspired, spend a few days in the studio painting.It turns out there is a scientific explanation. When we're in creative mode, we can become hyper-focused - and this is thanks to our releasing dopamine, aka the happy hormone. So, creative holidays get an extra boost in the happiness factor.
It's true.
• Artist Retreat Mauritius is taking a break from running weeklong retreats for now but still offer classes in Tamarin - tourists welcome.Alternatively, there are several SA options, including Stilbaai Art Retreat, which does three-day retreats for R2,500 per person.3. SAIL AWAY FROM STRESS
Sailing inspires quiet contemplation and, if you're going to do it, then you may as well do it right - drifting on a little boat in a part of the world still obscure enough to make you feel as if you've left Crazy Planet Earth behind.The 320 kilometre square Nosy Be (Big Island in Malagasy) is Madagascar's Magic Kingdom for beach holidays.
Nineteen kilometres off the northwest coast of the main island, it has a coddling climate (the sea sits at between 26-29°C year-round), coral-bursting metropolises under the surface and palm-edged beaches up top.Charting a crewed boat here and rambling around its sprinkling of smaller islands (many of them deserted) is the ultimate way to unplug.
Each day, pick a spot and head there for some snorkelling, maybe say "hey" to some lemurs, lie on the sand.
Or stay on the boat and laze on deck with a beer and a book while the staff keep things afloat in the background, your soundtrack only the odd plop of a turtle poking a leathery face out of the water.The chef down below, in a steam-filled kitchen, prepares your lunch from the bounty they have caught that very day. Under the big sky, on a big sea, you feel small and magnificent; humble and invincible all at the same time.
• MadagasCaT Charters currently has a special offer of five nights on Maki Cat with all meals, activities all, excursions, plus two nights at a lodge and flights (direct to Nosy Be) with Airlink. From R29,200 per person.PAUL'S TOP PICKS
1. PITCH A TENT SOMEWHERE PICTURESQUEA fine choice for a spring break is a weekend camping at Merry Pebbles by the babbling Sabie River near the eponymous town.
The tent is pitched within a metre of the water, in a little copse away from the power points and caravan sites in a campsite that has a special place in my heart.
We spend our days lying under the trees reading or dozing or cooling our toes in the river, or, for a change of scenery, taking slow meanders to the nearby waterfalls - Lone Creek, Horsehoe and Bridal Veil - places where I could do exactly nothing all day but watch the water droplets fall from the top until they splash into the pool.
At night we build a big fire from offcuts from the sawmill, slosh a little Jameson's onto ice in a mug and listen to the brook and the wind in the pines.With the railway to Graskop long abandoned and the early morning log trains no longer howling through town at dawn, sleeping in that little tent, holding hands with the river, is the best slumber I ever get.
• Camping at Merry Pebbles from R140 per person.  
2. PADDLE YOUR WAY TO PEACE IN A KAYAK
When the first hints of jasmine spice the evening air, my thoughts turn to the dusty kayak in the garage.It is time to return to Langebaan, whose lagoon provided some of the finest kayaking of my life. My girl and I spent a weekend learning the finer points of paddling and controlling a sea kayak, taught by guide Andrew Kellett.
Launching onto the lagoon from the beachfront cottage made me long for a simpler, cleaner life - bracing air, wavelets on the shore and skrawking gulls.
On a still spring day, when the lagoon is placid and the water a deep turquoise, there is no better place in the whole country in which to be introduced to sea kayaking's many pleasures.
In a place like this, learning how to handle a kayak with Gravity Adventures is more delight, less work.In the evening, we sat on the deck at the cottage, soothing our tired muscles and soaked in contentedness.
• R1,800 which includes instruction and logistics fee. Kayak hire - including helmet, paddle and PFD - is R350. Accommodation is extra.3. CYCLE THROUGH THE KAROO
I tried meditation once, went on a course and everything with a proper guru in the world of mindfulness. But sitting for hours on the hard, wooden floor of his house, I couldn't stop hearing the sound of his pool pump.
Happily, I discovered that I could slip into an altered state on long bike rides, being aware of everything - the road, the traffic, the weather - yet I was in another world.
This spring, I plan to ride the lonely roads of the Bamboesberg in the Eastern Cape for a few days of backroads stillness and wild camping.But if you're new to this, perhaps, or if unscripted bike travel is not your thing, then any of the supported five-day backroad mountain-bike trails run by Great Karoo Cycling in the beautiful country around Colesberg should be the ticket.
You will be immersed in a deep silence, broken only by the sound of fat tyres scrunching on gravel and the thump of your heart.
Don't need meditation or yoga for that.
• R5,700 per person including accommodation and guides...